University of Pennsylvania
Department of Mathematics
Class of 1880 Prize Examination

 

On February 21, 1896, the Class of 1880 presented the University with $1,000 to endow a prize for the best paper presented by a "candidate for admission to the course in arts and sciences" in a special examination in mathematics. The examination was described in the gift documents as covering Algebra through Quadratics and Plane Geometry.

Over the years the examination was opened to all freshmen undergraduates in any school of the University -- in some years it was called the Freshman Entrance Prize. The content has evolved to keep pace with the knowledge expected of an incoming student.

The initial prize was $50 -- all of the income from the endowment. It is interesting to compare the prize with the tuition in the College which in 1896 was $160 for a full academic year! Since 1992, single first place winners have received $250, and single second place winners have received $150.

The examination is given in the spring of the year indicated and announced in the University's Commencement Program for that year.

 

Year
Winner(s)
Honorable Mention

1896

Clarence Hawley Chester
Henry Walter Jones

 

1897

Charles Jastrow Mendelsohn

 

1898

George Bullock Atlee

 

1899

Lucius Fisher Curtis

 

1900

Joel Henry Hildebrand

 

1901

John Joseph Stetser

Wesley Lynn Hemphill
William Herbert Gorton Mackay

1902

Joseph Barnard Walton

 

1903

Julius David Stern

 

1904

Hugo Arthur Müller

 

1905

George Wanger

 

1906

Robert Martin Gilson
John Clemmer Bechtel

 

1907

Morris Oliensis

 

1908

Francis Evans Gallagher, Jr.

 

1909

Frank Duffield Lyons

 

1910

Henry Pritchard Rines

 

1911

Theodore Whidden Gibson

 

1912

Paul J. Hoh
Clarence V. Ripple

Wallace Greene Arnold

1913

Addison Erdman

 

1914

John M. Convery

Tobias Hahn
Allan G. Stern

1915

Louis Francis McCabe

 

1916

William Henry Aloysius Boerckel

 

1917

Gerald Flood

 

1918

Paul V. Forster

 

1919

George Richard Herzog

 

1920

Harry William Steinbrook

 

1921

Norman R. Sloan

 

1922

no prize awarded

 

1923

Leo Zippin

 

1924

Edward A. Knobelauch

 

1925

Leonard Carlitz

 

1926

Raphael Durante
James L. Moore

 

1927

Benjamin Pinkel

 

1928

Howard B. Haines

 

1929

Philip M. Gottlieb

 

1930

James N. Sarmousakis

 

1931

Samuel I. Haimowitz

 

1932

Abraham B. Soble

 

1933

Martin S. Abel

 

1934

Arthur W. Goldstein

 

1935

Abraham Ulin

 

1936

August M. Tranauskas

 

1937

Leonard Irving Meisel

 

1938

Samuel I. Askovitz

 

1939

Warren Wolf Levy

 

1940

Bernard Goldman

 

1941

Randle Morgan Kauders

 

1942

Tong Hing
William Joseph Turanski

 

1943

Donald Hunt

 

1944

no record of prize being awarded

 

1945

T. Vail Palmer, Jr.

 

1946

Joachim Benedict Ehrman

 

1947

David Loev

 

1948

Sylvan H. Eisman

 

1949

Werner B. Teutsch

 

1950

no record of prize being awarded

 

1951

Arthur Buslik

 

1952

Ross Ellston Cooper

 

1953

Robert Ochser

 

1954

no record of prize being awarded

 

1955

Roy Lisker
Robert H. Cantor

 

1956

no record of prize being awarded

 

1957

Murray Eisenberg

 

1958

Charles I. Kalme
Kenneth J. Hertz

 

1959

Herbert M. Gintis

 

1960

David Liberman

 

 

In 1960 the Prize was $75. Starting in 1961 both a First Prize and a Second Prize were awarded in most years.

 

Year
First Prize
Second Prize
1961 Jay Israel Warren Grobman
1962
no record of prize being awarded
 
1963 Josef S. Sukonick Joseph Cauley
1964
no record of prize being awarded
 
1965
no record of prize being awarded
 
1966 Jeffrey Klugman David Cole
1967
no record of prize being awarded
 
1968 Philip Zasskin Cary Yang
Hon. Mention: Norman Levine
1969 Charles Schwartz Gordon Jenkins
1970
no record of prize being awarded
 
1971 David Kallman Isabel Beichl
Robert Weingarten
1972 Frank Levinson Michael Eleff
1973 George Florey Bradley Blucher
1974 Robert Styer  
1975 Charles Frank Gross Alan Geist
Howard Weizman
1976 Mark Painter Dean Yang
Michael A. Wolf
1977 Richard Magnus
Scott R. Renn
Bruce Vrana
Hon. Mention:
Robert Adamski
Kenneth Eiger
Kevin Ilsen
Paul Heyrman
1978 Robin Forman Anthony Pastore
1979 Howard Karlof
Hal Switkay
 
1980 Tod Nasser Andy Feigenberg
1981 Martin P. Gelfand Ned Batchelder
1982 Mark E. Banilower Larry E Kanter
1983 Jonathan Dushoff Joseph Shrawder
Dan Vacek
Hon Mention: Brian Harris
1984 Nikos Valavanis David A. Roberts
1985 Neil Miller Andrew Salinger
1986 Daniel Scher Rafi Geretz
Ramanan Raghavendran
1987 Steven Schlenker Arup Mukherjee
1988 Daniel C. Broscius
Charles Rezk
 
1989 Dmitry Cherkassky Min Xiao
1990 Jazmin Schwartz Kenneth Lo
1991 Rennan Bar-Kana
Titiimaea Alailima
 
1992 Frosti Petursson
Douglas Levy
 
1993 Yu-Xiang Ren Jamal Hussain
1994 Nicolae B. Garleanu Kin Wai Chan
1995 Steven Spallone
Sameer Merchant
Michael Laskin
 
1996 Ting Fai Ng David Futer
1997 Vesselina S. Koleva  
1998 Daniel J. Sherman Richard E. Mandel
1999 Choongtze Chua Osbert Pang
2000 Michael Freiman Tamas Gal
2001 Shinsuke Kurihara Adrian Lau
2002 Eunice J. Kim Sahand Jamal Rahi
2003 Richard Baliban Caecilia Chu
Alan Kikuchi
Hon Mention: Timothy Ambrose
2004 David Anderson Gorav Kalra
2005 Sha Li Cory Nanus
2006 Kam-Fai Ho Caleb Li
Jingxian Li
Hon Mention: Naomi Baine & Zheng Wu